Microsoft is using synthetic DNA to store data

Microsoft is collaborating with a company situated in San Francisco to encode data on deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. Their goal is to create a new means of information storage. For the purpose millions of DNA strands will be provided to Microsoft by Twist Bioscience. That way Microsoft can test whether the deoxyribonucleic acid can be used as a medium for information storage.

CEO Emily Leproust explained that:

"Today, the vast majority of digital data is stored on media that has a finite shelf life and periodically needs to be re-encoded. DNA is a promising storage media, as it has a known shelf life of several thousand years, offers a permanent storage format and can be read for continuously decreasing costs."

Although they are years away from launching a commercial product, an architect who happens to be partnering with Microsoft on this project, named Doug Carmean, explains in a statement that it is possible that digital data is encoded from synthetic DNA and then recovered by 100%.

If the project is finished, this will enable them to store large amounts of information in such a small storage device as the DNA is. In fact, they claim that an astonishing trillion gigabytes of information could be stored in a single gram of DNA. As we, people, continue to generate huge amounts of information each and every day, it is vital that we find new means of data storage. The new findings happen to be of great importance for Microsoft itself, as it will prove efficient for the company. In truth, the latter could significantly reduce its costs by getting their hands on a more effective way to accumulate data.

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